Investment in Healthcare Workers; This Time or Wait for Another Decade

Capitalism in the healthcare service has begun since the phase of education for health workers. Not only education for the physician, almost in all health education line has been commercialized. Training is mostly attended only by those who are fortunate or wealthy. Not only happens in education held by the private school, yet also by the public university. Expensive costs incurred are not comparable to the quality produced. Are you going to entrust your health care to these less competent healthcare providers?

I often provide training to medical communities, not only doctors but also nurses, midwives or health analysts for the lab technician. In training, we trainers have an opportunity to explore whence the trainee’s ability level will be able to absorb the training materials to be taught. It usually begins with fundamental trivia questions that should be mastered by medical personnel. Often the answer is far from expected, lacking the necessary competence skills that should have been possessed when graduated as a medical worker. So what should be done to create a competent health worker?

Enhance the quality of healthcare services can be accomplished starting from the selection and competition process of the candidates. For those who want to devote her or himself as a medical profession, the selection process should be done to choose not only someone who is academically bright but also has a passion for helping others regardless of others condition or circumstances. In addition to the academic selection that relies more on the intelligence potentiality, a psychological screening is also needed to be done to determine one’s motivation and talent. Not everyone who is bright could be a doctor; some people are not talented to connect and establish excellent communication with other human beings. This is the basis why often found reports of complaints from patients about the medical doctor’s services, but after the investigation, it is only a matter of miscommunication between patient and doctor. Possibly the doctor is not a gifted person, do not force yourself if you are not talented in a specific field. Make sure you want to help others and have a passion for solving individual and community health problems.

The second proposition that could be done is to provide full subsidies from the government to the education that are needed to meet the needs of people’s wellbeing. It is costly, but the long-term results can be harvest in the next 10-15 years, where the medical faculty will be able to create competent graduates, have passion and genuine devotion to the community. Currently, admission fees for being a general practitioner in a state medical school range from 75 to 350 million in public schools. Subsidies are provided, but only for limited students. If the grant is given in full, it will undoubtedly be able to meet medical school graduates with qualified doctors. The government should provide complete subsidized education to students who are academically and psychologically deserving to become doctors. This is one form of future investment.

Since roughly 15 years ago, when commercialization in the world of medical education began, I was getting worried that competition for medical services would happen by becoming a patient as a battleground. Patients will pay a very high price for treatment. The high cost paid is not only of the significant amount of money that must be spent by each patient but also the high price of the decline of public health quality. It is now beginning to happen, since 2012, the reduction in the maternal mortality rate is very far from the expected target. While the current health programs only in the form of health jargon without accompanied by a real increase in the quality of health services. This jargon is also associated with passion. Without passion, a good program will only be a jargon.

It is time for the government to invest in the future of health. Provide full subsidies to the delivery of health education, not only doctors but also nursing schools, midwife schools and other schools for the fulfillment of health workers. Make the selection of healthcare candidates competitive and fair. In addition to the examination of academic competence, do also psychological test, due to this profession will give priority to human relationships.